.455 Eley Colt New Service

[Jim]

Back in late '06, I found an old New Service and brought it home. At first, I thought it was chambered for .45 Colt but on close inspection, I discovered the barrel stamped ".455 Eley. The odd thing is, the chambers are bored straight through and the rear face of the cylinder is rebated enough to accept .45 ACPs in a moon clip. I know this rebating is not after market because the original proof stamp is still on the rear of the cylinder.
This seems like a pretty weird set-up. Can any of you history buffs tell me why the cylinder is rebated and why the chambers were bored straight through?
The old girl shoots soft .45 Colt loads really well, but if I try ACPs in a moon clip, sometimes the bullets go catawhompus and shave off at the forcing cone.

[45 2.1]

I had a S&W Gold Seal done the same way back when. During WW1 handguns of any kind were in short supply for the war. Commercial revolvers were either rechambered or produced for this effort. Yours seems to be one of them. The RCBS 45-265-HB does very well in these.

[fourarmed]

A lot of Colt and Smith .455 Eley revolvers were rechambered and milled to take .45acp in clips. If the mark on yours is genuine, it probably means this is not the original cylinder.

[anachronism]

Your cylinder has likely been milled down to accept 45 ACP in moon clips. I hope you didn't buy this as a collectable, because the collector value has been lost. Many older guns had the cylinders bored straight through, I believe the 455 Eley used a hollow base bullet, so your cylinder is likely bored to .476 or so.

[Char-Gar]

My thoughts on the issue at hand:

1. The .455 Eley used a case the same diameter as the 45 Colt, but not the same length.
2. The .455 Eley case rim was thinner that that on the 45 Colt.
3. A 45 Colt case in an original Eley charge hole should not work well, due to the extra thickness of the Colt round. It might turn, but there would be zero headspace and any nick or high spot on the case head or priner will tied the pistol us.
4. These pistols were made for Britian in volumn by Colt in 1914 and 1915 along with Smith and Wesson hand ejectors made for the same rouond.
5. The 455 Webley being about the same, but shorter than the Eley round could be fired in this .455 Eley handgun.
6. It is common to find early New Service pistols for military use, with a straight through chamber. The early 1917s. for 45 ACP were straight through and could only be fired with clips. Later 1917 had the headspace step, so it could be fired without clips.
7. Many New Service revolvers in .455 Eley were imported as surplus years ago.
8. Many of these surplus were converted to fire the thicker rimmed 45 Colt case by milling a recess in the back of each charge hole to accept the thicker Colt rim.
9. Is #8 what you are calling rebating?
10 If #8 was done, it does not have any effect on the markings on the back of the cylinder.
11. If the rear of the cylinder has only the serial number, it was a commercial model.
12. The British goverment pistos are marked with the single broad arrow (chevron) on the back of the cylinder and the frame as well.
13. When the pistols were released from govt. service a second opposing broad arrow/chevron was stamped touching the origina.
14. If you pistol was converted to 45 Colt as above, use bullets .455 and standard velocity 45 Colt loads and you will do fine with the 45 Colt case.

[Jim]

The cylinder is, indeed, bored straight through. The proof stamp on the back of the cylinder is the original. The head space provides a bit of slop for .45 Colt cartridges, but a good, close fit for ACPs in a clip.
As odd as this may seem, the best set-up I've found for this revolver is to use .454 Casull cases. They are long enough to seat the bullet as intended and get the nose right up to the mouth of the cylinder chambers. This has eliminated all shaving as the bullet is still pretty much in a "guidance" mode when it enters the forcing cone. Also, I made some snap rings out of spring wire that snap on the rim groove. This fills the head space and keeps the cartridges from "slopping".
For those that might go to general quarters at the mention of using .454 cases, I load these with soft .45 Colt charges and fill the case with shredded cotton to keep the charge against the flash hole. Further, NO ONE SHOOTS THIS REVOLVER BUT ME, so I KNOW what goes in it.
Somewhere in this old girl's life, somebody filed down the front sight a tad. I was amazed to find that the load I worked up for it is zeroed perfectly for a 5 gallon bucket at a hunnerd yards.

[9.3X62AL]

Jim--

That is a novel and apparently effective route to dimensional integrity. AND--you have the added distinction of owning and firing The Nagant Revolver From Hell.

[Multigunner]

I know this rebating is not after market because the original proof stamp is still on the rear of the cylinder.


Not sure but I think British Law would require an altered cylinder be reproofed.

Another possibility is the .455 barrel being a refit to a .45 ACP version.

Mix and Match barrels and cylinders are not uncommon both with rebuilds and Wartime production.
The S&W .38 revolvers often had a barrel with one marking and cylinder in another chambering, .38 Special barrels with .38 S&W cylinders or vice versa.

The stacking up of mutiple bullets in revolver barrels due to defective wartime ammo resulted in a few revolvers having to be rebarreled, plus the regular corroded bores. I've run across a number of WW1 era revolvers with later model barrels. Had a nice one with a six inch Officers Model Target barrel with elevation adjustable front sight on a standard Military fixed sight frame with the GHD inspectors cartouche.

[lathesmith]

The cylinder is, indeed, bored straight through.

Kinda makes those S&W 25-5's with .457+ throats seem like tight-throated target guns, eh?

lathesmith

[anachronism]

Hmmm... rebore the barrel to .476 or so, then use a heeled bullet. Another giant forward leap backwards. Just thinking out loud, guys. Ain't no way to treat an irreplacable gun.